NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 27, 2026
The Red Wings, Flames, and Kings pull off upset wins, the three stars of the week, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPPING MONDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Detroit Red Wings rookie goaltender Michal Postava made 25 saves and stopped all three shootout attempts to win his first NHL game 4-3 over the Edmonton Oilers. Viktor Arvidsson, Emmitt Finnie, and Dylan Larkin scored as the Red Wings (5-4-3) rallied from 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 deficits, and Lucas Raymond scored the game-winner in the shootout. Vasily Podkolzkin, Isaak Howard, and Colton Dach tallied for the 8-2-2 Oilers, who hold first place in the Pacific Division with 18 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers winger Zach Hyman left the game after striking his head against the glass following a routine hit from Red Wings defenseman Andreas Englund.
Calgary Flames forward Matvei Gridin (NHL Images).
Calgary Flames sophomore winger Matvei Gridin scored two goals and collected an assist for a 5-2 upset victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Joel Farabee and Martin Pospisil each had a goal and an assist, and Devin Cooley stopped 26 shots for the red-hot Flames (5-6-0), who’ve won four straight games. Easton Cowan and William Nylander replied for the 7-5-2 Maple Leafs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews collected an assist to become the fastest player in franchise history to reach 800 points, doing so in 703 games.
Leafs winger Kirill Marchenko left this game with a lower-body injury during the second period. Flames Aydar Suniev didn’t return after suffering an upper-body injury in the first period.
Los Angeles Kings captain Drew Doughty had a goal and two assists to lead his club over the New York Rangers 6-3. Artemi Panarin and Joel Edmundson each had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who improved to 3-5-2. Tye Kartye had a goal and an assist for the 7-6-1 Rangers as they suffered their third straight defeat.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The 36-year-old Doughty is in the final season of his contract, but he has no plans to retire. “I think I can play until over 40,” Doughty said. He hopes to sign an extension with the Kings.
Kings winger Mats Zuccarello (upper body) was placed on injured reserve. Newly-signed Rangers goaltender James Reimer was lifted in the first period after giving up three goals on eight shots. He was replaced by Dylan Garand, making his ninth appearance in as many games.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, Flames goaltender Devin Cooley, and Montreal Canadiens netminder Jacob Fowler were the league’s three stars for the week ending Oct. 25.
SPORTSNET: Connor Hellebuyck believes he’s ready to play and is getting closer to playing his first game with the New Jersey Devils, who acquired the 33-year-old goaltender from the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. Devils coach Sheldon Keefe hopes to get Hellebuyck into the lineup during their three-game road trip against the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and Vegas Golden Knights.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Devils have back-to-back games against the Stars and Avalanche on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hellebuyck could start one of those matches.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Carolina Hurricanes activated winger Taylor Hall off injured reserve. He missed five games with an upper-body injury.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is expected to miss two weeks with an upper-body injury.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The New York Islanders placed forwards Matias Maccelli and Calum Ritchie on injured reserve.
Boston Carolina game presents an early season matchup against 2 teams that have come out of the gate fast.To early to put to much emphasis on the score this early. Good experience for Bostons young players against a veteran laden squad!
All these early-season injuries of different sorts popping up right and left and, of course, the need to call up reserves from the minors, got me curious as to how far away each AHL affiliate is (in approx, miles and km, considering the difference in such between the two countries 🙂 ). Here’s the results for what it’s worth:
Same city: Calgary Wranglers; Montreal Laval Rocket (suburb); San Jose Barracuda; Toronto Marlies; Winnipeg Manitoba Moose;
100m/161km Or Less
Las Vegas – Henderson, Nev Silver Knights (18m/27km);
Los Angeles – Ontario, Ca Reign (37m/60km);
Colorado – Colorado Eagles (Loveland, Co 46m/74km);
Vancouver – Abbotsford, B.C. Canucks (47m/76km);
Philadelphia – Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Pa) Phantoms (48m/77km);
Boston – Providence, RI Bruins (55m/88km);
Buffalo – Rochester, NY Americans (74m/119km);
Chicago – Rockford, Il Ice Hogs (87m/140km);
Anaheim – San Diego, Cal Gulls (96m/155km);
NY Rangers – Hartford, Conn Wolf Pack (100m/162km);
Between 101m/183km & 300m/480km
Ottawa – Belleville, Ont Senators (120m/193km);
Washington – Hershey, Pa Bears (132m/212km);
Columbus – Cleveland, Oho Monsters (142m/229km);
Detroit – Grand Rapids, Mich Griffins (158m/254km);
New Jersey – Utica, N.Y. Comets (172m/277km);
Dallas – Texas Stars, Cedar Park, Tx (190m/307km);
Minnesota – Iowa Wild (Des Moines) (244m/393km);
Pittsburgh – Wilkes-Barre Scranton, Pa Penguins (260m/418km);
301m/481km & Up
New York Islanders – Hamilton, Ont Hammers (349m/562km)
Nashville – Milwaukee, Wis Admirals (475m/765km);
Utah – Tucson, Ariz Roadrunners (600m/966/km)
Carolina – Chicago, Il Wolves (641m/1032km);
Seattle – Coachella Valley Firebirds (1000 Palms, Ca) (987m/1,589km);
St. Louis – Springfield, Mass Thunderbirds (1,100m/1,780km);
Tampa – Syracuse, NY Crunch (1,102m/1,782km);
Edmonton – Bakersfield, Cal Condors (1,283m/2,844km);
Florida – Charlottetown, PEI Checkers (1,701m/2,738km);
Just 6 of 32 carry the same nickname as the parent club: Abbotsford Canucks, Providence Bruins, Belleville Senators, (Cedar Park) Texas Stars, (Des Moines) Iowa Wild and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The Henderson Silver Knights are close, but they were knocked down a mineral.
Oilers Oilers Oilers. I’ll be the first to celebrate their successes and cheer on McDavid. I can’t stand their coach and I suspect he has very little to do with their winning other than letting the “horses run”. BUT. Their goals against is 2nd worst in the league. Toronto tried this nonsense for years. You can outscore people all you want in the regular season. Win all your games 7-4, 8-6 blah blah blah. But when the post season hits. And most of the games are 3-2. 2-0…and so on. They’re cooked. Again.
Not to nit pic, but in total goals against and GA/P the Oilers are 5th most, not 2nd.
To be honest in 5 of their 8 wins the Oilers allowed two or less goals in each of those wins. In that game against the Wild who scored three goal had one of the flukiest goals I have ever seen scored. It bounced off the back bar on top of the net and then off Levi’s back and in. You take that goal away and it’s 6 wins with allowing 2 or less goals against. Also right now the Oilers are playing their 3rd string goalie.
Dark G, the Oilers have tried this for years too, not just the Leafs. The difference between the 2 teams is that the Oil righted the ship in the 2nd half for 2 years including the playoffs. They were great defensively in the 2nd half of both those seasons, and in the playoffs for the most part. Last season, not the case.
At least this season they are banking some points. IMO they are better this season defensively as they have cut down on odd man rushes by not turning the puck over as often in the neutral zone and entering the O zone. By simply dumping the puck in more when it’s not there. That includes more often by McDavid and especially Draisaitl.
They aren’t giving up as many 5 alarm chances, but the SV% is subpar and their PK is brutal, again. Is that tending too? I dunno.
Plenty of injuries, though not the only team dealing with that. Babcock may have to look at breaking up McDavid and Draisaitl as much as they are killing it offensively together, at least until the get heathier up front.
Takes a new coach and system some time, so reserving judgement on that until after Xmas. It’s still early.
KevJam, to be precise, considering that the number of games played – for the teams who rank in the top 10 of most goals against – range from a low of 9 to a high of 14, here’s how they stack up in terms of average goals against per game, with Edmonton in a tie for the 3rd most @ 3.6 per game:
1. 4.6 Vanc 13gp
2. 3.7 Buff & Chi 11 gp & Cg 12gp
3. 3.6 Edm. S.J. @ Sea 12gp each
4. 3.5 L.A. 10gp
5. 3.4 Ana 11gp
6. 3.3 Clb 9gp, Mtl 11gp, Col, Pitt, Utah 12gp, Tor 14gp
7. 3.2 Pha 13gp, Wash 10gp, Nash 11gp, St.L 11gp
8. 3.1 Tam 11gp & Det 12gp
9. 3.0 NYR 14gp & Fla 12gp
10. 2.9 Veg 13gp & N.J. 11gp
As per NHL.com https://www.nhl.com/stats/teams?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20262027&seasonTo=20262027&gameType=2&sort=goalsAgainstPerGame&page=0&pageSize=50
1. Vancouver 4.62GA/G
2. Chicago 3.91 GA/G
3. Calgary 3.73 GA/G
4. Buffalo 3.64 GA/G
5. Edmonton 3.5 GA/G
LA 3.5 GA/G
San Jose 3.5 GA/G
Seattle 3.5 GA/G
The reason you use per game it takes away that teams haven’t played the same amount of games.
Heh. Isn’t that more or less what I posted above?
What I was looking at are the standings as shown this morning by NHL.com which shows, for example, the Oilers with 43 ga – not 42 as indicated in your link. I guess the NHL.com stats include empty-netters? Otherwise, I dunno the reason for the slight differences in average ga.
I added up all the Oilers goals against. 42 is the correct amount. The standings page probably took the shoot out goal that was scored as a GA.
Buffalo is also showing one more GA in the standing page than they have on the stats page. They also have 1 SO loss.
I think we can all agree the Oil are allowing too many goals to start the year. Giving up 6 then 7 against the Canucks to start the year doesn’t help. But there last 3 game stretch hasn’t been good either in that department.
They’re banged up with a new coach, 2 of their 3 tenders out, so some real reasons to think it will improve, but it needs to.
They looked like a team full of rookies when the Wings had their tender pulled last night and they were protecting a 1 goal lead. Say what you want about Babcock, but that stuff won’t fly forever with him. We’ll see what he can do.
That is true Ray, but you also have to take into consideration that Jarry was in net the last two games. That third goal last night is one you would like him to stop. Also McDavid getting hauled down in the corner before the goal didn’t help.
Banged up is right. The Oilers just get Nuge back and now their down Hyman again, Ekholm, Anderson, Levi, Dickinson, Janmark, and Savoie.
Fans want to know where the Oilers depth is, just look at their injuries.
And they are 8-2-2 after all.
Pretty darn good considering.
Yep. That’s the bottom line. All the doom and gloom aside, playing at a .750 clip after 12 games ain’t too shabby.
Kind of like Ottawa. If someone had told me before the season began that they’d be on a .667 pace (-8-4-0) after 12 while not having their top D pair for half that, Eklund out for a full third, then Matinpalo for several, and Ullmark and Chabot for recent games, I’d have advised them to seek help.
Ya Ottawa has had the injury bug too. I predicted they would get in again this year, but I was counting Eklund in that equation.
Ullmark has been consistently good for the majority of his career even on some bad Buffalo teams, I figured he would bounce back. Sounds like he won’t be out too long, which is big for the Sens as that guy has been on heater all season.
They play a structured, disciplined & hard working game. Mature team now.